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PART 6 LISTENING EFFECTIVELY
Listening is the conscious act of receiving, understanding, interpreting, evaluating, and responding to messages. The act of audience listening is an often-
Selective listening refers to the fact that audience members pay attention to certain messages and ignore others based on their background, level of attention, and interests. Many factors influence what grabs and holds an audience member’s attention. Audience members pay attention both to what they think is important and to information to which they relate personally. When crafting a speech, it is helpful to keep in mind that audiences process unfamiliar information in terms of what is already familiar to them.
You can craft more successful messages by:
Appealing to the audience’s interests, needs, attitudes, and values
Emphasizing, in your speech introduction, what the audience stands to gain by listening
Connecting new information to the audience’s likely experiences
Creating analogies that link new ideas to well-
Repeating main points to better ensure audience comprehension
Visually reinforcing your main points with presentation aids when appropriate